Photographic type composing machine

ABSTRACT

A PHOTOCOMPOSING MACHINE IS DISCLOSED. A CHARACTER PRESENTATION MEANS, WHICH CAN BE A CHARACTER BEARER SUCH AS ONE OR MORE DISCS, DRUMS, ENDLESS BANDS, OR MATRIX PLATES, INCLUDES AT LEAST TWO SEPARATE CHARACTER GENERATING STATIONS. IMAGES OF SELECTED CHARACTERS ARE FLASH-PROJECTED FROM EACH STATION TO AN ASSOCIATED LENS-CARRIAGE SYSTEM WHICH POSITIONS PROPORTIONATELY-SPACED CHARACTERS ON A FILM IN ORDER TO FORM LINES OF COMPOSITION THEREON.

Nov. 16, 1971 L. M. MOYROUD 3,620,141

PHOTOGRAPHIC TYPE COMPOSING MACllINI-I Filed July 22, 1969 5 Sl100Lr;Shnr,- L 1 27 FIG. NM

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PHOTOGRAPHIG TYPE COMPOSING momma SSheets-Shoot 2 Nov. 16, 197] Filed July 22, 1969 I 'TURN Z TURN yd L 1L I0 FLASH TUBE s w M LASH M fl H TUBE 7 FIG-4 lNVENTOR LOUIS. M. MOYROUD AGFNT Nov. 16, 1971 L. M. MOYROUD 3,620,141

PHOTOGRAPHIC TYPE COMPOSI NG MACHINE- INVENTOR LOUIS M. MOYROUD Nov. 16, 1971 L. M. MOYROUD PHQTOGRAPHIC TYPE COMPOSING MACHINE.

Filed July 22, 1969 FIG .7

INVENTOR LOUIS M. MOYROUD AGENT L. M. MOYROUD PIIOTOGRAPHIC TYPE COMPOSING MAClIIl'Nl-i Nov. 16, 1971 U ShcoLwShooh 6 Filed July 22, 1969 INVENTOR LOUIS M. MOYROUD FIGQIO AGENT United States Patent 3,620,141 PHOTOGRAPHIC TYPE COMPOSING MACHINE Louis M. Moyroud, Medford, Mass. (202 Grove Way, Delray Beach, Fla. 33444) Filed July 22, 1969, Ser. No. 843,298 Claims priority, application Great Britain, July 25, 1968, 35,575/ 68 Int. Cl. B41b 17/14 [1.5. CI. 954.5 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A photocomposing machine is disclosed. A character presentation means, which can be a character bearer such as one or more discs, drums, endless bands, or matrix plates, includes at least two separate character generating stations. Images of selected characters are flash-projected from each station to an associated lens-carriage system which positions proportionately-spaced characters on a film in order to form lines of composition thereon.

BACKGROUND AND BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention concerns photographic type-composition by the use of a machine of the kind in which continuously moving master characters pass serially through a projection position in relation to an optical system adapted to project an image of a selected master character to an image position on an image-receiving surface, e.g. film, by flash illumination of such selected character when in the character-image generating or projection position. Al-

though the employment of a movable character-carrier such as a rotatable drum, disc, or an endless band or belt is preferred, the present invention may also be used with a stationary matrix such as a grid or plate.

US. Pat. 2,670,665 depicts a photocomposer in which characters are projected from a rotating disc to a lens system which is mounted on a lone carriage which moves along a line parallel to film that moves only for leading purposes. In this system, a character is flashed, after which the carriage is moved a distance sufficient to proportionately space the next character to be projected. After this next character is flashed, the procedure is repeated until a full line has been composed. This system inherently in- 'cludes a large amount of dead time since most of the time consumed in the composition of a line of text is spent waiting for the carriage to move to each of the characterflashing positions along the line.

The present invention represents a significant advance over previous systems of the foregoing nature by providing at least two discrete character-image generating positions each having an associated traveling lens-carriage arrangement for projecting characters to different locations along a common base line of an image-receiving surface such as a film in order to form a line of composition thereon. Since each of the movable means for directing character image-bearing light beams (i.e. the lens-carriage systems) is adapted to move independently of one another, one carriage can be projecting a character image while another is moving to the next consecutive character projection position along the line. Or, if desired, each carriage is adapted to project character images to a separate segment of the line to be composed. Each carriage moves back and forth in the direction of the common base line of the text being composed. The carriages may be placed adjacent to one another or one above the other, in which case an optical merging system is positioned between the carriages and the film in order to project all of the characters along a common base line.

Thus, it is apparent from the foregoing description of Patented Nov. 16, 1971 the invention that the speed of composition of a line of standard length may be significantly increased compared to previous machines or, that an exceptionally long line may be composed at speeds analogous to prior art machines. The present invention will be more fully disclosed in the detailed description which follows, in which:

FIG. 1 is a part-sectional plan view of one embodiment of the machine;

FIG. 2 is a broken view of a matrix character film strip for mounting on the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the drum of FIG. 1 depicting the position of the flash lamps relative to a schematic showing of the duplexed type faces of the matrix strip;

FIG. 4 is a schematic representation of the passage of a typeface by the stationary flashlamps as the drum of FIG. 1 revolves;

FIG. 5 depicts the manner in which the word Photon may be composed by the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a schematic representation of the manner in which the line of composition may be lengthened;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a different embodiment of the invention in which a pair of moving lenses are located one above the other, and showing a beam splitter;

FIG. 8 is a side view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the invention in which four moving lenses project character images generated at four discrete character imagegenerating positions; and

FIG. 10 is a plan view of another alternative in which two separate character-bearers in the form of rotatable discs are depicted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a character presentation means such as a drum 1, mounted on shaft 2 that rotates continuously, for example at 25 r.p.s. A plastic, transparent rim 3 of drum 2 is provided with teeth (not shown) to receive a matrix strip 4 (see FIG. 2) similar to strips used in the machine known commercially as the Photon 713. Flash timing is obtained by slits on strip 4 and the use of lamps such as 5 associated with photodiode 6. There is preferably one lamp and one diode for each illuminating means such as a flash tube, designated 7 and 8, respectively. The area of the drum in the light path of each flash lamp constitutes a discrete position for generating character images. There may be windows 22 and 23 associated with tubes 7 and 8 respectively. The windows, if provided, may be fixed or movable. If movable windows are provided, they may be utilized to select one or another of two or more master character rings, 'such as 2041 (FIG. 2) of the matrix. Fixed reflectors are shown at 9 and 10 to deflect by approximately degrees the light bundles emerging from each illuminated character.

Associated with the foregoing apparatus are two independent movable means for directing character imagebearing light beams generated at the drum to different locations along a common base line of an image-receiving surface 15. These movable means may take the form of lenses and lens carriages lens l1mounted on..car-........

riage 12 sliding back and forth in slide 13 is associated with flash tube 8. At the beginning of a line, this lens is at an initial position (as shown at 11) such that it will project the first character flush with the left hand margin of the text to be composed at 16 on an image-receiving surface such as film 15. In the same manner, lens 14, associated with flash tube 7 is also positioned so that it can project the first character flashed by tube 7 next to point 16. Lens 14 mounted on a carriage (not shown) similar to carriage 12. Each carriage and associated lens may be driven by an independent stepping motor through a conventional pinion/rack arrangement (not shown). Both 3 lenses can be stepped in the direction of arrows F during the composition of a line, parallel to film plane 15.

The operation of the machine is as follows: To compose a text, a punched paper tape (or magnetic tape) is introduced into a reader associated with the control means or circuit of the machine. After the justification computation has taken place, either as described in our copending US. application 690,720 filed Dec. 13, 1967, or by reading the tape a first time for this purpose in a manner known in the art, the first character identity and width codes are entered into the flash timing and spacing circuits. The first character is flashed through lens 11. During the time the machine is waiting for this character to pass by flash tube 8, lens 14 moves to the right the appropriate distance to correctly space the second character from the first. The second character of the line is then entered and its width, added to the width of the previous character, causes lens 11 to move the appropriate distance to space the third character on the film. During this time the second character is flashed by tube 7 through lens 14. The third character of the line will cause lens 14 to move for character image spacing purposes at the same time as tube 8 will flash this third character through lens 11.

Thus, characters of the line are alternately flashed by tubes 8 and 7, and are focused on film 15 by lens 11 and lens 14. As the line progresses, lens 11 moves towards its extreme position 11' reached at the time the last character of a line (having an odd number of characters and spaces) is projected at 17 to be flush with the right hand margin of the text. In the same manner, at the end of a line, lens 14 reaches position 14' at which it projects the character preceding the last character of the line.

The advantages of this system are apparent. The composition speed of a machine of this nature is limited by the time it takes to displace a carriage (on which may be mounted a mirror, lens, or section of the film) to its next position following the projection of each character, and the time required for the carriage bounce to be sufficiently damped. There is also a waiting time for the selected character to go by the flash tube. In the system described, while one lens is waiting for a character to be projected the other lens is being moved to provide proper spacing between this character and the following one.

The matrix strip 4 mounted on the periphery of the drum can contain, for example, two duplexed type faces, such as Roman upper and lower case numbered 30 and 32 and italics upper and lower case numbered 34 and 36, as shown schematically in FIG. 3. Assuming that the drum rotates at a speed of 25 revolutions per second, all the characters of the matrix will pass by each flash lamp during each revolution of the drum at 40 millisecond intervals.

The passage of the lower case Roman alphabet is schematically shown in FIG. 4. It can be seen in this figure that for each revolution of the drum one character of the alphabet selected (represented by solid lines on the diagram) can be flashed by each lamp during each revolution. In other words, two characters can be flashed for each turn of the drum, and three 10 millisecond segments, totalling 30 milliseconds, separate each alphabet passage by a given tube. These 30 milliseconds during which no character is flashed by a given =flash tube are utilized to step the lens carriage associated with said flash tube to a predetermined succeeding position.

Although reflectors 9 and 10 of FIG. 1 are shown in the form of mirrors, other means can be used. In one embodiment of the invention reflector 9 may be replaced by a right angle prism and reflector 10 by a roofed pentaprism in order to use the same row of characters of the drum at each flashing position.

FIG. shows how the word Photon could be composed by a machine embodying the present invention. Assuming that lens 11 will project the first letter P, lens 14 will next project the h and so forth, numeral 50 represents the distance lens 14 will traverse as the P is being projected through lens 11. Numeral 52 in turn represents the first displacement of lens 11, numeral 54 the second displacement of lens v14, numeral 56 the second displacement of lens 11, numeral 58 the third displacement of lens 14, and numeral 60 represents the fact that lens 11 will move into position to project the first letter of the next word as the n is flashed through lens 14'. It is apparent from the example of FIG. 5 that character images are proportionately spaced on the film in accordance with their relative widths in order to form a line of composition on the film. The relative character width values may, of course, be expressed in terms of units of an em, as explained in US. Pat. 3,422,736.

If it is assumed that the average width of the characters in a given typeface is 9 units, then the average lens displacement between character projections will be 18 units (twice the width of an average character), since the moving lens must leapfrog or bypass the location on the film to which the other lens is projecting the character which has just been flashed (see FIG. 5). The schematic representation depicted in FIG. 6 discloses a manner of further increasing the speed of the inventive machine, as well as lengthening the line of composition thereof. Since the lenses of FIGS. 1-5 may be moved independentl of one another (e.g. by separate stepping motors), it is not necessary to project characters consecutively as shown in FIG. 1. Rather, each lens can be moved so as to project separate segments of the line to be composed. Thus, lens 70 may be moved progressively toward the position designated by numeral 72 in order to project the characters which comprise line segment 71 on the film. Likewise, lens may be moved to position 82 to project line segment 81. Since the average lens displacement per character is now 9 rather than 18 units (because leapfrogging is no longer necessary), the speed of composition of the machine is further increased. Moreover, if lens 70 is progressively moved from position 74 toward position 72, and lens 80 is moved from position 84 to position 82, the length of line can be effectively doubled.

Although the character presentation means shown in FIG. 6 is a disc 90, it is apparent that drum 1 may also be used. Of course, lens 70 may move from its original or rest position to position 76 and lens 80 may move from position 86 to the position shown in FIG. 6 if it is desired to project characters in leapfrog fashion as described in relation to FIGS. 1-5. Moreover, it is apparent that the separate segments may be projected from each margin to the center of the line (as shown in FIG. 6), or from the center to the respective margins, or composition of one segment can begin at a line margin while the other begins at the center of the line. These alternatives can readily be programmed by conventional control circuits presently in existence. If inexpensive, low resolution lenses are employed, the recommended maximum angle of displacement is 12 as shown in FIG. 6. This angle may be increased however, if high-quality, high-resolution, wider-angle lenses are used.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, it is not necessary to mount the moving lenses side-by-side. Thus, character images emerging from disc are projected to film 15 by lenses 102 and 104 which are mounted for back and forth movement one above the other. Of course, the projected characters must be merged along a common base line on film 15. Accordingly, after being reflected by reflectors 106, 108 and 110, the characters are merged by a conventional beam-splitter .112.

It is apparent from FIG. 9 of the drawings that more than two character image-generating positions may be used, if desired. Disc has four such positions at 90 intervals around the periphery thereof. Four moving lenses 122, 124, 126, and 128, each associated with a respective generating position, are also shown. Conventional optical merging means analogous to that shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 would be employed with this embodiment, but have been omitted from FIG. 9 in order to simplify the drawings. It should be noted that the four character rings on disc 120 are oriented at 90 to one another in order to ensure that all of the characters are properly oriented when projected onto film 15. The same result could be achieved by the employment of dove prisms to rotate and properly orient the images, as is well known in the art. The number of discrete character image-generating positions which may be employed is limited only by the physical configuration of the associated moving lenses. In other words, the limits of travel of the lenses must not physically overlap.

FIG. 10 demonstrates the fact that the character presentation means may comprise two separate charactercarriers such as discs 130 and 132. Carriages 13-4 and 136 are adapted to move back and forth relative to each other and to the film 15. As before, a conventional beam splitter 138 is shown for purposes of merging the images along a common base line of film 15.

The foregoing description is intended to be illustrative only. Various changes or modifications in the disclosed embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art. It is understood, therefore, that all such modifications as would be apparent to one skilled in the art are included within the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A photographic type composing machine comprising:

character presentation means including at least two discrete positions for generating character images,

a surface for receiving generated character images such that lines of composition may be composed on said image-receiving surface,

means for illuminating each of said discrete character image generating positions,

control means for selecting characters whose images are to be projected onto said image-receiving surface in order to form a line of composition, said control means adapted to energize said illuminating means for the purpose of generating images of said selected characters,

each of said discrete character image generating positions having associated therewith movable means for directing character image-bearing light beams from each of said generating positions to different locations along a common base line of said imagereceiving surface in order to compose a line of composition thereon, each of said light-directing means being mounted to a separate movable support such that each of said light-directing means is adapted to be moved independently of the other.

2. The machine of claim 1 in which each of said movable light-directing means is adapted to project character images to a separate segment of the line to be composed.

3. The machine of claim 1 in which there are two discrete character image-generating positions each having a movable light-directing means associated therewith, said light-directing means being adapted to alternately project character images, one after another, to consecutive locations along said common base line of the imagereceiving surface in order to compose a line of composition.

4. The machine of claim 3 in which one of said lightdirecting means is adapted to project a character image while the other light-directing means is moving into position to project the next character image in said line of composition.

5. The machine of claim 1 in which each of said movable light-directing means comprises a lens mounted on a carriage, and each of said carriages is adapted to reciprocate in the direction of said common base line.

6. The machine of claim 5 in which each of said carriages is positioned adjacent one another and reciprocates through separate paths in the direction of said common base line.

7. The machine of claim 5 in which said character presentation means comprises a rotatable charactercarrler.

8. The machine of claim 7 wherein at least two of said carriages are positioned one above the other for movement in a plane parallel to the plane of said imagereceiving surface, and optical merging means are positioned between said carriages and said image-receiving surface for the purpose of positioning character images projected from the respective lenses along said common base line.

References. Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JOHN M. HORAN, Primary Examiner 

